How Coyote Starrk became a member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)
by darkling59
Summary: After the Winter War, Starrk and Lilynette notice there is something strange going on in Soul Society. To figure out what it is and if it's dangerous, Starrk sneaks into Seireitei in disguise...and immediately gets caught up in a case of mistaken identity. As he tries to find a way out without telling anyone who he actually is, it becomes increasing difficult to remain aloof.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: How Coyote Starrk became a Member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)  
**Author**: darkling59  
**Fandom**: Bleach  
**Date** Published: 3/26/2013  
**Disclaimer**: Bleach and all associated characters, settings, concepts, etc within this story do not belong to me. Character spellings will attempt to follow those on the Bleach wikia.  
**Summary**: Recovering in the Living World after the Winter War, Starrk and Lilynette realize there is something strange going on with the shinigami and, in order to figure out what is going on, Starrk sneaks into Seireitei disguised as a shinigami. he accidentally becomes embroiled in the war effort. As he tries to find a way out without telling anyone who he actually is, it becomes increasingly difficult to stay aloof.

* * *

Prologue

It started, as so many things often do, with a completely innocuous comment made by Lilynette:

"Hey, I wonder what those shinigami are doing? You know, the ones we fought? I haven't seen ANY shinigami in forever!"

Starrk, peacefully dozing on his new (stolen) pile of cushions, opened one eye to look at her and gave a languid shrug. "They're probably back in Soul Society doing whatever it is that shinigami do when they're not killing hollows."

Her visible eye rolled in exasperation as she dug through their latest haul, looking for anything interesting she'd missed the first time through. Neither of them felt much remorse or shame for stealing and scavenging, so they tended to take what they wanted whenever they wanted. It helped that human security systems and barriers couldn't affect them.

After being grievously injured by the pink-clad captain and left for dead by their own comrades, the two of them had chosen to stay in the human world and under the radar of everyone involved in the Winter War. They left Karakura Town as soon as they were able and fled, on foot, towards a less spiritually sensitive human city. (Using reiatsu was avoided at all costs because it could draw the attention of the shinigami who were hunting down surviving arrancar.) After passing through several candidate locations, some of which were far too noisy for Starrk's taste and others too boring for Lilynette, they finally settled down right outside the city of Fuji, in the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan.

It was full of interesting people and animals, situated in a picturesque location, warm enough not to remind them of Hueco Mundo, and not too noisy or boring. They lived on the coast within sight of the ocean which, for two creatures that had spent their lives in a featureless, inhospitable desert, was absolutely fascinating. Lilynette especially enjoyed playing in the tide pools and searching the beaches for interesting shells and trinkets left by the waves.

The only drawback was that no one could see them. They chose a place with low spiritual pressure on purpose, but the loneliness was getting to both of them. After finally having comrades, it was difficult to go back to being unacknowledged with no one capable of perceiving that they were there. Living on the fringes of society, watching the humans' daily lives but unable to take part, was somehow just as bad as simply being alone. Thankfully, Starrk had learned to control his spiritual pressure enough that he wasn't accidentally killing the humans nearby, but he had to constantly be on guard.

Both of them knew the situation, while useful for recuperating, could not last forever. Hueco Mundo was not an attractive alternative but Soul Society was just plain impossible and shinigami patrolled the human world enough to be a dangerous hassle.

At least, that's _normally _what they did. Lilynette was correct when she said they hadn't been around for a while. It was becoming suspicious.

"Starrk, c'mon! You can't go back to sleep!"

He yawned and turned his back to her.

"HEY!"

His breath _whooshed _out in a pained grunt as a small pointy shoe delivered a sharp kick to his gut.

"Get UP, Lazy ass!"

"Alright." With speed born of long practice, the former primera caught her shoe before it could connect a second time. "I'm up. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's _wrong._" She huffed and yanked her foot out of his grasp. "I'm just sayin' it's weird, that's all."

The former primera stretched and settled back, observing his young counterpart with mild confusion.

"Is it? Maybe they do this all the time in the Living World."

She scowled and stalked a short distance away, refusing to look at him.

"You don't think it's weird at all? I mean, aren't they supposed to patrol and stuff?"

A slight shrug was his only answer.

"Come _on!_ You have to be curious, at least!"

"Not really. What the shinigami do is their business. Why are you worried?"

"I am NOT!"

This time, her kick caught him squarely in the back of the head.

"OW! Stop it! What do you want me to say?"

"Oh shut up. You just don't get it." With an irritated scowl, she flounced away, leaving a confused arrancar in her wake. True to form, Stark puzzled over it for a moment then gave a mental shrug and went back to sleep.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Lilynette did not mention the shinigami again but Starrk could not get her words off his mind. He had mixed feelings about the soul reapers; on one hand, they were the most hated enemies of all hollows due to…well…being hypocritical single-minded hollow-killers. On the other hand, Aizen was kind to Starrk (even if it was an illusion), that white haired captain tried to spare Lilynette, and many shinigami truly tried to do the right thing, even if that didn't look right from any perspective but their own.

Case in point: the captain that tried to kill Starrk. He attacked from behind on the belief that the ends justified the means so killing Starrk in any way possible was more important than his honor (hence, the sneak attack). But the arrancar was an open-minded person, and he was aware that the captain believed wholly in what he fought for, while Starrk didn't care one way or the other. He was just fighting on Aizen's orders.

Philosophical musings aside, the absence of shinigami in the Living World was worrying because it meant they were occupied elsewhere, with a threat great enough to distract them from the leftovers of Aizen's army and their duties to the humans.

If it was that powerful, it could be a threat to Hueco Mundo and the arrancar as well. More importantly, it could be a threat to Starrk and Lilynette.

Dammit.

"Lilynette!"She wasn't in sight, but should be able to hear him.

"Yeah?" the shout came from way down the beach.

"How would you feel about a field trip to Soul Society?"

"WHAT?!"

It was a good thing they'd lifted the ban on using reiatsu because she sonido'd to his side in less than a second, staring at him incredulously. If he didn't talk fast, she'd start trying to knock sense into him.

"I've been thinking about what you said. I still don't care what the shinigami do with themselves, but it might be good to figure out why they vanished."

"And your first choice is 'knock on the front door'?!"

He rolled his eyes.

"We won't be knocking. I'll disguise myself as a soul reaper and ask for information from the souls in Rukongai. I won't go anywhere near Seireitei, and we'll avoid any real shinigami. You can keep an eye on the situation from the outside and watch for any new Garganta or whatever it is they use to get around."

"You don't think they'll sense our Garganta?"

"They can't. Shinigami don't have pesquisa and their sense of smell isn't very good. If we suppress our reiatsu, there should be no way for them to find us."

"Aizen was able to open and seal Garganta."

Starrk shrugged lackadaisically. "Even if they can, then what? I can just make another Garganta and get us out of there, if we aren't too far away for them to track."

"Huh. Okay, I guess. Now?"

"Nah, let's give it a few days. I want to…prepare." He settled back with a yawn, dozing as he contemplated their 'mission'.

"Lazy bastard…"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

This is going to be a relatively short and silly story about Starrk's endeavor to find answers about the shinigami, and where that leads him and Lilynette (the title is pretty self-explanatory). It was one of the most popular choices in my profile poll, along with Turnabout.

I hope you liked it! Starrk is one of my absolute favorite Bleach characters, and he deserves more love.

And hey! Last day of block updating! After this, I'll be updating the chapters as I finish them rather than alongside 'Souls Without' and/or 'Howling at the Moon'. I'll probably still try to update during the week and write on the weekends, but I won't stick to the schedule I was on before.

I know I HAD more to write down here, but I don't remember what it was and I don't want to delay posting just for the comments section.

* * *

Let me know what you think! Please REVIEW!


	2. Chapter 2

**Title**: How Coyote Starrk became a Member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)  
**Author**: darkling59  
**Fandom**: Bleach  
**Date**: 5/5/2013  
**Disclaimer**: Bleach and all associated characters, settings, concepts, etc within this story do not belong to me. Character spellings will attempt to follow those on the Bleach wikia.

* * *

**Arrival**

'Preparation' turned out to have different meanings for the two arrancar.

Starrk prepared in his usual way; by visualizing possible scenarios, analyzing how the various situations could turn out, and making sure he had an escape plan ready. By outer appearances, he seemed to be dozing (granted, 90 percent of the time, he _was_, but the other 10 percent he was planning. Really.), however, he was also taking stock of his mostly-healed body, checking reiatsu levels, and resting up for the mission.

For Lilynette, preparation meant pretty much the exact opposite. She became a hive of activity, hunting through the surrounding human communities for anything and everything that might assist them in breaking into Seireitei. Since it was a beach community, with plenty of wildlife and campgrounds in the surrounding area, there were lots of useful shops to steal from within walking distance.

And so, three days later, Starrk found himself staring down at a massive pile of equipment, nearly as big as Lilynette, which had somehow appeared inside their little dwelling. Evidently she made multiple trips, returning with armloads of…things? He really should have been suspicious when she let him nap for three days straight.

"Lilynette, what _is _all of this?"

"It's _awesome_." She popped up next to him, appearing from behind the pile. With her hands on her hips, she gazed at the pile in satisfaction. "See, the humans have _tons _of stuff that let them be sneaky or hide. I found this one place with surveillance cameras, and stealth goggles!"

She reached into the pile and pulled out five fist-sized cameras, handing them to Starrk. Then she dove back in.

"They also had all of these different kinds of radios and walkie-talkies!" Seven more packages were thrust in his direction. "I couldn't get an ipad…the security was too good…but they had _disposable cell phones. _Did you know they're untraceable?"

"…No."

"Yeah, and-!"

He tuned her out as she made her way through the pile, pulling out various electronics, clothes, and camping equipment that would be useful 'just in case'. Either she'd taken this whole trip to heart and gained a reasonable fear of the shinigami, or she'd decided to make an opportunity to go 'shopping'.

He suspected the latter. Shopping (stealing, whatever) had become her passion in the last few weeks.

Ten minutes later, she wasn't even halfway through the pile and he'd had enough.

"And THIS is a camouflage jacket. You need to wear it to-."

"How are we even supposed to carry all of this?"

THAT gave her pause. It had taken her over a hundred trips to move all of her 'acquisitions'. They weren't that heavy, especially for an arrancar, but there were too many loose items to carry more than four or five at a time.

"Oh…uh…"

Starrk put one hand to his head and groaned.

"I'm regretting this already. Let's just stay here."

"What?! NO!" She stood to her full (not so impressive) height and glowered at him, arms akimbo. "You said we were going to Soul Society! You can't take that back now!"

"But-."

"No!" She prodded him in the chest with one finger. "You said-!"

"Fine, fine." He batted her hand away irritably. "But we need to be able to move quickly and stay inconspicuous. You can't take any of this."

"That's not fair! And all of this stuff could be really useful!"

He scowled at her, but knew she was right – he'd learned recently that humans could be extremely resourceful. Being in the living world had taught him more about the mind-bogglingly fast pace of human society and innovation than he had ever known existed.

Unwilling to argue the point, he fished an olive green army backpack out of the jumble, and handed it to Lilynette.

"If you can carry it, you can bring it." Starrk flopped down on his pillows, closing his eyes and ignoring her enraged spluttering. As an afterthought, he called out. "I'll open the Garganta in twenty minutes"

* * *

_Ten minutes later…_

"STARRK!"

Let it be known that having a very heavy backpack tossed on your chest, followed by a (physically) twelve year old girl jumping on your stomach, is a _very rude awakening_.

"Oof!"

"I'm ready. Let's go!"

"Alright, alright…I'm coming!" With a practiced twist, Starrk dislodged Lilynette from her perch and pulled the backpack off his chest, weighing it in one hand with a disbelieving frown. Then he noticed that it definitely was _not _the backpack he'd chosen – this one was _bright pink_.

"Pink?"

"The other one was _boring_. I like this one."

"What's in it? Bricks?"

"Lots of stuff! Walkie-talkies, candy, extra clothes, some camping gear, these really cool Taser things…I can show you, if you want?"

"That's fine." He grimaced. If she took the time to explain it all, then they would never get going. Without further ado, she hefted the pack onto her back and eyed him expectantly. When he didn't move fast enough for her tastes, she put her hands on her hips and scowled.

"Are we going or what?"

"Yeah, yeah…let me just find my zanpakuto…"

As he rummaged around looking for the sword he hadn't used since the Battle, Lilynette grumbled in the background about his laziness and how, if he was sleeping while SHE was getting packed then HE should have already been ready. Starrk refrained from pointing out that he knew where it was until she dumped a camping store's worth of 'supplies' in the middle of the floor, then scattered them everywhere to find the ones she would actually bring.

Eventually, an hour later, they did get going. Starrk opened a Garganta on the other side of the beach, too far away to be connected to their home on the off chance they captured the attention of one of the few shinigami remaining in the human world. Both of them stood there for a several minutes, staring at their peaceful little paradise and considering the perils of a trip to Soul Society, especially if Seireitei was already on military alert.

It was Lilynette who made the first move, walking into the Garganta with a derisive snort and confident stride...only to immediately falter and send a tentative look back. Starrk stepped up beside her and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze before continuing through the dimensional aperture.

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we get back. We shouldn't be gone long."

"Yeah." With a final glance at their retreat; the beach and trees, sun and sky; Lilynette squared her scrawny shoulders and followed the ex-primera espada. "We'll be back soon."

* * *

"Whoa."

Not exactly articulate, but it aptly summed up the spectacle that greeted their exit from the Garganta, Starrk thought. They emerged over a forest canopy in one of the lower numbered Rukongai Districts. There were one or two small communities in the area with thatched and shingled roofs visible through the trees, but Seireitei dominated the skyline.

It was massive, easily as big as Los Noches, but not contained under a dome so the sprawling city's full impressive layout and contents were exposed in all their glory. On a good day, no doubt the buildings and towers would be spotless white and gleaming, painting a beacon of cleanliness and 'light' that the shinigami believed would bolster the Rukongai souls and be a fitting 'center of heaven'.

This was not a good day.

Now, black smoke poured from the highest tower and entire portions of the architecture had been destroyed, wiped out by fire or explosions. The walls were riddled with holes and rubble littered what walkways they could see. Black-clad shinigami swarmed over the mess like ants, evidently trying to fix it although there was no sign of anything being accomplished. In the distance Starrk could see fire spreading and sense hostile reiatsu signatures and intense energy attacks. The strongest ones appeared as bright flashes in the sky.

"Looks like we were right." Lilynette's eyes were as fixated on the carnage as his were. "Something IS wrong."

"Hm." He nodded.

"Who are you?!" A sudden frantic cry from below drew his attention to the ground, and the scared looking woman cowering by one of the trees. She was fairly nondescript (at least for someone used to working with arrancar) with brown hair, brown eyes, of average height, and wearing a beige dress. A resident of Rukongai, most likely. She looked _terrified_, and Starrk belatedly remembered that common souls could not stand in the air. So much for acting inconspicuous. It was hardly a reason to panic, though.

"No one." He jerked his head in the direction of Seireitei. "What happened?"

"I don't KNOW!" She sounded on the verge of hysterics and, mildly concerned, Starrk sank to the ground, closely followed by Lilynette. "This morning, everything was fine! This is District three; we don't get involved in all that monster fighting nonsense!"

"You mean hollows?"

She scoffed, gaining composure with what seemed to be a familiar topic of argument.

"Those ruffians from the outer Districts are always complaining about something or other. Me? I've never seen a monster, and I've lived within sight of Seireitei for twenty years. Don't you think, if these 'monsters' were fighting a war against the shinigami, they would attack the main gates? I mean, it's the only way to attack the shinigami directly."

"You would think." He muttered.

"So what happened this morning?" Lilynette interjected.

The woman startled at her voice, apparently just noticing her presence.

"That's the thing – no one knows. Shinigami are common around here. They buy our wares and eat at our restaurants. It's rare to see less than ten or fifteen of them on the streets. But this morning they all up and vanished!"

"You mean they went back to Seireitei?"

"They must have! Not an hour later, there was a horrible explosion!" She waved her arms in the air, gesturing wildly until Starrk stepped away so he wouldn't get slapped on accident. "They saw it all the way to District ten! The entire sky went dark!"

"Light."

"…What?"

"If it was an explosion of fire or energy, the sky would have -." Cognizant of her increasingly annoyed expression, Starrk cut himself off. "-Never mind."

"They say the main gate was completely destroyed and the shield was shredded. Now it has more holes than Swiss cheese!"

"Cheese?" He shrugged at Lilynette's snickered question, before chiming in with a more serious tone.

"What shield?"

"It's made of _magic_." She scoffed. "If you ask me, the shinigami could do with a bit more practical knowledge, not that hocus pocus. How long has it been since that sort of thing has been useful? I mean, when was the last serious threat: two hundred years ago?"

"This morning, it would seem." He squashed the mildly insulted feeling of not being considered a 'real threat'. This person didn't even know about hollows, let alone arrancar – how would she know about the Winter War?

She scowled, then turned a considering look on them.

"So who are you, then? I've never seen anyone do magic like that except shinigami!" He fancied he could _see_ the lightbulb go off over her head. "Is that what you are? Some sort of special shinigami coming to help?"

The two arrancar exchanged a Significant Glance.

"…Something like that."

Lilynette giggled at Starrk's deadpan delivery.

"Well then, thank the king that you're here! Those shinigami can use all the help they can get!"

"I'm sure." Starrk yawned, covering his mouth to keep her from seeing his short fangs. When she tittered quietly at his 'manners' ('So polite!'), he ignored her and focused on a far more pressing matter. "Does anyone around here sell those black robe things?"

At her utterly scandalized expression, he knew he'd made a mis-step.

"You mean their uniform? No one around here sells that! They make them in the city, launder them too. They're mighty proud of it, actually. Are you sure you're shinigami?"

"Were a different type of shinigami."

"A half-hollow type." He shushed Lilynette's whisper (and got kicked for his trouble), but the confused woman didn't notice. She also seemed to take Starrk's excuse as a valid reason for his ignorance.

"Oh! Well, why don't you talk to the gate keeper? He can probably tell you where to go." She stared at the smoke in the distance and scowled, muttering darkly. "…If he's still there."

"I see." Starrk promptly marked 'the gatekeeper' on his mental list of 'Shinigami to be avoided at all costs' alongside the pink captain and the old man with fire. "So we just head towards Seireitei."

She nodded. "You'll only make it in if you're actually a shinigami, though."

Starrk nodded thoughtfully, and then yawned again.

"Do you have any idea who they're fighting?"

"No, that's the creepy part! It's like the enemy just appeared inside the city! None of them came through the Districts!"

Not a good sign. It probably meant the Gotei 13 were fighting hollows or other shinigami, or someone who had one or the other under their control (or some other means of dimensional travel). Although Garganta weren't much use in battle, so maybe it wouldn't make a difference.

He muttered a half-hearted 'Thanks' and, while the strange woman was still nodding and rambling, buzzed into a sonido and vanished as if into thin air. Lilynette followed at a slower speed that was still too fast for the soul's sub-par senses to comprehend. They left her gaping, staring at the spot where she'd seen two strange intruders and wondering if she'd imagined the entire exchange.

* * *

Many miles away, between Districts one and two, Starrk and Lilynette came out of sonido. At this distance, the scent of reiatsu in the air was strong and Starrk frowned deeply when he realized that captains had already joined the fight. This was no passing skirmish, that was for sure.

"So what're we going to do?" Under Lilynette's expectant, questioning gaze, Starrk frowned and scratched at his chin in contemplation. She didn't wait for his answer before continuing. "You _said _we were gonna ask around Rukongai, but they don't _know _anything. And it doesn't sound like we can get disguises, either."

"Going home sounds like a good idea."

"It does **not**!"

He sighed and stared up at the walls of the shinigami stronghold. From here, they were even more impressive…and so was the damage. Someone powerful must really hate the shinigami, even more than the arrancar, to attack the heart of their territory with such fervor. As much as he wanted to just leave them to it, the destruction of Seireitei would be disruptive, to say the least, to all three worlds. He'd be forced to deal with it somehow regardless of where he was. Plus, it would be a shame to waste all of the energy he'd already put into getting this far.

"Then I guess I have to go inside."

"Stupid! They'll kill us!"

"Not us. Me. You're not coming."

"WHAT?!"

He winced at her enraged shriek, and then shrugged. "Lilynette, it's not that - oof!"

The pink backpack, launched with all the rage his counterpart could muster, struck him in the stomach, driving him back a step and forcing the air from his lungs. When he doubled over, she jumped on his back with an enraged shout.

"Whaddaya mean, I'm not going with you!? I'm HERE, aren't I? We're not supposed to be separated!"

"Ow! Lilynette…get off!"

"No! I can *hf* drive some sense into your lazy, stupid – ack!" He managed to grab her ankle and yank her off, twisting so that she was dangling upside down a foot or so from the ground. Startled by the change, she stopped struggling for a moment and he promptly dropped her in the grass.

"Ow! That could have broken my mask!"

"Your head's harder than that." He rolled his eyes. "Let me finish. I want you to stay outside and keep an eye out for reinforcements or any disturbing activity. With all your trinkets, you should be able to see that."

A reluctant scowl was her only answer, as she tried to pull pieces of grass and clumps of soil off her horn and the edges of her mask where she'd almost got caught in the soft ground.

"Look," He crouched in front of her and tugged at her horn until she met his eyes. "I'm not just saying this because I want to keep you away from battle – It really will help if you watch my back. We'll get you a high vantage point so you can see into the city and you can let me know if anyone is sneaking up on me, or if the battles are coming too close."

"But…what if you need to go into Resureccion? I won't be there!"

He smiled slightly and scuffed the top of her mask with his knuckles, as if ruffling her hair. "Then you can come and get me. With a straight line of sight, you can use a Garganta or sonido."

"Right. I…we won't be separated?"

"Not really."

"But you have to promise to take a walkie-talkie."

"A…what?" He sat back, watching with bemusement as she scrambled towards her backpack and began digging through it, throwing bits of cloth and plastic around as she sought out a specific bit of plastic.

"This!" Triumphant, she handed him a box made of plastic and metal, attached to a loop of cord as wide as his wrist. His time in the Living World had introduced him to many different human inventions, but this was a new one. "So we can talk to each other, even when we're far away!"

"Huh. Okay." He pressed one of the buttons carefully, trying not to crush it. "It seems rather fragile."

"Then show some self-control, dummy."

After a short crash course from Lilynette on using technology and a promise from her to _only _use them in an emergency to avoid blowing his cover, he tucked the (hopefully) useful device in his shirt and she put hers in her pack. This time, she made sure to use an outer pocket so it wouldn't get lost in the jumble. He had no idea how she managed to learn all of this, considering she couldn't interact with humans and the biggest thing she'd worked with so far was a broken cellphone…

With a mental shrug, he dismissed it as irrelevant.

"The best place for you to watch from would probably be a cliff or standing on air…"

"How 'bout there?" she gestured at a series of peaks in the near distance but Starrk eyed them critically – it was quite a ways, even for enhanced arrancar senses.

"Can you even see that far?"

"I brought binoculars." She grinned. "I _told _you my stuff would come in handy."

A noncommittal grunt was Starrk's only answer. He'd believe it when he saw it, but at least she'd probably be safe that far from the action.

"Then the only thing left is disguises."

"Except they're _inside _the city."

"Eh, I'm sure there's _something _in Rukongai. Even if it's not a uniform, black clothes will be less conspicuous than white."

* * *

By a stroke of incredible luck, the two arrancar discovered an abandoned clothing store only a few blocks down the second street they searched in District one. Originally, Starrk thought they might be able to apprehend some shinigami trying to hide from the battle and steal their uniforms, or barter Lilynette's loot for unrelated clothing (assuming, of course, no one recognized them as arrancar, but that seemed to be much less of a concern than he'd originally anticipated – if that woman's response was anything to go by, souls in Rukongai had never even _heard _of arrancar). Instead, they found the streets completely deserted. A few brave souls were huddling inside the buildings behind locked doors, but most seemed to have fled the district altogether, probably trying to escape fallout from the battle going on in Seireitei or the possibility of what would happen if the shinigami lost. It was a simple matter to snap the makeshift lock on the door and stroll right into the store. Lilynette immediately took off for the woman's section while Starrk glanced disinterestedly through a rack of men's coats by the entrance.

"Hey, look! They have pink!"

He blinked at the shirt in her hands, noticing vaguely that it matched her eyes.

"Inconspicuous, Lilynette. Find something black."

She scowled. "I don't know why _I _have to look boring…I'm staying outside…"

"Just in case." At her thunderous expression, he sighed and decided to compromise. "Wear it _underneath_ something black, then. Or you could just take it back with us."

She made a disagreeable sound, running back towards the place where she'd found the shirt. Shortly after taking up residence in the human world, she had become fascinated by all of the color. In Hueco Mundo, everything was black and white, and the rainbow of hues available to the humans boggled her mind. Starrk should have expected that she would jump at the chance to own clothing that wasn't white.

With typical disinterest, Starrk picked through the menswear and managed to find a black garment similar to those of the shinigami. There was a design on the sleeve seams that was different and stitched red embroidery around the hemmed borders and collar but such minor changes would be unnoticeable without close scrutiny. He picked a plain white t-shirt to match the color scheme and fully hide his hollow features (mask and hole).

Disguise complete, he went searching for Lilynette.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine!"

"Ready to go?"

"I guess…can we come back after? They have a green shirt just like the pink one…"

"I suppose…" He turned, looked at her, and sighed, putting a hand to his brow in aggravation. "Inconspicuous means _black and white, _Lilynette."

"Oh shut up." She scowled at him, brushing down the sleeves of her black clothes, which exactly matched his, all the way down to the designs and stitching (although hers were done in green rather than red). The difference that bothered Starrk was what she'd chosen to wear underneath; her t-shirt was pastel pink a few shades lighter than the backpack she was toting, not white. "I'm wearing black, see? And I _know _the shinigami don't always wear those colors! Remember that one you fought? He wore pink!"

"…Fine. Just…stay out of sight." Wearing shinigami black, the white of her mask stood out like a beacon. Unlike Starrk, who could hide his teeth, her helmet was exposed for the world to see and its obvious disconnect with their disguises was alarming. He would have to make sure she stayed far away from the shinigami.

"Yeah, yeah…"

* * *

It only took a half hour or so for them to get Lilynette set up on the cliff she'd chosen earlier, staring out over the area with her enhanced vision further modified by the binoculars. He made sure she knew how to remain inconspicuous and hide if anyone showed up (although he had his doubts she would comply) and helped her camouflage the eye-catching backpack. When they were finished, she was nearly as noticeable as ever, but at least people would probably think 'child' rather than 'hollow' provided she kept her mouth shut.

Thankfully, the location was so remote that it was doubtful she would encounter anyone.

With that reassuring thought in mind, Starrk set out for the gates of Seireitei at a quick sonido, intent on completing his mission and getting back to Lilynette as soon as possible.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

You know how some chapters are _planned _as short interim bits, but just keep growing until suddenly, they're not?

Yeah…

In my notes, this chapter was just 'Rukongai'. I thought it might be 1K and would smoothly transition Starrk and Lilynette from the human world into Seireitei.

*Sigh*

I'm not sure I like it, but at least they ended up where they were supposed to be!

* * *

Let me know what you think! Please REVIEW!

And a big 'Thank You' to those of you who reviewed last chapter! **ThatOneFan**, **Lman3**, **Cookie-the-Rookie**, **Alowl, Jade Dragon, **and **Little-Angel-22**; You guys are awesome!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title**: How Coyote Starrk became a Member of the Gotei 13 (On Accident)  
**Author**: darkling59  
**Fandom**: Bleach  
**Date**: 6/28/2013  
**Disclaimer**: Bleach and all associated characters, settings, concepts, etc within this story do not belong to me. Character spellings will attempt to follow those on the Bleach wiki.

* * *

**Intrusion**

Getting into Seireitei was surprisingly easy, all things considered. Starrk thought he'd be able to pull it off but expected some sort of opposition; guards, barriers, traps…something. Instead, he just picked one giant hole in the wall (out of several) and walked through. No one even noticed him. In all the commotion, he probably could have waltzed in wearing his espada uniform and been ignored.

He wandered aimlessly, watching frantic squads of black-clad shinigami race through the streets dodging rubble and shouting orders. Well, most of them were running; a few groups clustered in alleys and half-demolished buildings, huddling together. They were trying to put on brave faces, but their reiatsu smelled strongly of fear.

Starrk frowned and pressed onward. He might be an arrancar now, but he was still a hollow and fear draws hollows like sharks to fresh blood. It wouldn't be a good idea to become hungry around so many helpless souls.

Besides, they seemed to be just as clueless about 'the enemy' as he was so there was no point in lingering.

"S-sir!"

He ignored the voice in favor of plodding onwards, until a timid hand tapped him lightly on the shoulder. Startled, he turned to find four souls standing in a tight huddle behind him. Unlike most of the shinigami, these were dressed in unfamiliar uniforms of a white kosode with blue or red hakama. The one who hailed Starrk was a young man wearing blue. Physically, he was about twenty years old, but spiritually he couldn't be more than ten. Otherwise, he was pretty typical: average height, average build, brown hair, and blue eyes (currently wide with terror). His hands were locked around an unnamed zanpakuto so tightly that the knuckles were turning white.

Aside from being very young (the shoulder-tapper was the longest-dead of the lot) the other three looked similarly unremarkable and average. All of them smelled strongly of fear and stared at Starrk with wide, expectant eyes. Had they figured out his identity? Why weren't they reporting him?

…Did that one call him _sir_?

"…What?"

The shoulder-tapper (apparently their spokesman) straightened nervously, hands still clutching the nameless sword like some sort of teddy bear.

How did he plan to fight, if he didn't even have a shikai?

"S-sir!" His salute was crisp and quick but Starrk just blinked in response and the boy wilted in the face of his indifference. "W-we're from the Academy. We're here to help!"

"…Academy?"

"Yes, sir! I-I'm Hiku Yatara, second year student at the Spiritual Arts Academy! These are Miaka, Shuichi, and Greg." He indicated each of his companions in turn and they straightened, inching forward to salute. Starrk barely noticed, attention focused solely on Hiku.

"W-we heard the commotion and thought, maybe we could help? I mean, we're not soul reapers yet, but we've done well in training! I'm at the top of my kido class! We thought we shouldn't just sit back and watch. We have to be able to do something!"

All of them were now standing at attention, bright eyed and ready to act, despite their obvious tension and fear. One day, they'd make good shinigami…_after_ they learned the names of their swords, and how to kill hollows. For now, they'd be a liability in battle against even the weakest of opponents.

Starrk grimaced slightly at that final thought and surveyed them again. Despite their interest in defending Seireitei, none of them were moving to attack him. Not that they'd be a threat, but why weren't they trying?

"Hn. Aren't you supposed to be with a teacher, or something?"

"Uh…"None of them would meet his eyes. This ought to be good. "We…actually, they returned to the squads, to help. We tried to follow Professor Ophella, but lost track of her in…in the commotion."

Lie. The kid's covert shuffling and refusal to make eye contact made him appallingly transparent. The others were even worse; they leant together to whisper and giggle, as if Starrk couldn't see or hear them.

"So…?"

"We were hoping, maybe, you could tell us what to do?" Hiku gazed at Starrk hopefully, but the arrancar had absolutely no idea how to respond to that. He masked his confusion behind his normal indifferent poker face.

At his lack of response, the student rushed on, almost desperately. "See, you obviously know where you're going and since you don't have a squad insignia, we thought maybe you were affiliated with the Academy?"

A shinigami. The little idiots think he's a legit _shinigami_, and they want him to give them _orders. _If Lilynette could hear this, she'd be laughing her head off.

"I'm not."

"…Oh." Hiku visibly deflated, looking to his pals for reassurance or direction. It was one of the girls (Miaka?) who managed to summon her nerves and step forward. She was a head and a half shorter than Starrk with dark eyes and black hair held in a high pony-tail. Her uniform was white and red, rather than white and blue. When she spoke, her stutter was not as pronounced as Hiku's but the words were much quieter.

"Could you please direct us to someone who can help us, then?"

"I'm not-."

"Because we're kind of lost." Hiku flushed and tried to deny it, but she stepped forward, keeping Starrk's attention. "We really want to help, but we don't know what to do!"

"You could ask one of the squads." Starrk indicated the numerous figures rushing back and forth in the chaos. The surreality of the situation was beginning to wear off, leaving just plain incredulity in its place (along with a bit of annoyance and amusement).

"We tried." Hiku grumbled. "You're the first one who stopped."

Oh.

"Is…I mean, could you give us directions, at least? You seem to know where you're going, and what's going on." Miaka was considerably more hopeful than her comrade, apparently.

Starrk sighed, put out by the interruption. He had no idea where he was going; his wandering has been completely aimless so far (he was hoping to stumble across someone with information) and the labyrinth of high-walled roads and walkways was enough to confound even his acute sense of direction. If he didn't have an enhanced sense of smell, he would be just as lost as these kids. But he still had a _goal _(figure out who the shinigami were fighting and if they were a threat to he and Lilynette), and this would definitely hinder his progress.

However, he didn't want to attract attention by chasing them off. It would be better for everyone if he sent them on their way none the wiser, directions or no. He scrubbed his right hand over his hair, considering and then nodded slightly. The kids brightened up and shuffled closer; the last two came forward, finally overcoming their nervousness (although the entire conversation seemed to have cured their fear of the destruction happening around them).

"Where are you trying to go?"

They immediately wilted again.

"…Is there somewhere we can report in? To help?"

Starrk frowned.

"Where are the other students?"

"They decided to stay back. Where it's _safe_." Hiku scowled. "We're _shinigami. _Someday, we're going to fight hollows…and they want to stay _safe_!"

Miaka elbowed him in the side and he shut up, but Starrk had heard enough.

"You're not supposed to be here." Their silence was enough of an affirmative. "Go back."

He turned away, dismissing them, and continued on his way.

Mistaken for a shinigami by a bunch of kids who must have a teaspoon of common sense between them…How were they even alive if they didn't know how to sense hollows? His stolen uniform wasn't that good of a disguise…

Five minutes and ten alleys later, Starrk stopped in the middle of a street and sighed deeply. He closed his eyes for a long moment, contemplating how he would surely regret this, then turned to direct a mild glare at the students following him. To their credit, the reactions ranged from sheepish to defiant rather than terrified, but they still didn't take the hint.

"I'm not going to give you orders. Go away."

"…We can't. We're supposed to be shinigami; we're not cowards!" Hiku was gaining confidence; his sword was only clasped in one hand now. The other gesticulated wildly as he spoke, nearly whacking Greg in the face.

"And, like I said, we're lost." Miaka chimed in. "We don't know the way back."

"Look, kids." They bristled, but Starrk ignored it. "I'm not headed wherever you need to go, and I don't have time to play babysitter. Find someone else."

"Then we'll go wherever you're going!" This time it was the other girl that spoke up; Starrk didn't remember her name. She was almost as tall as Hiku and about the same age, with scruffy brown hair and black eyes. Her voice was considerably higher, and Starrk nearly grimaced at the pitch.

"No."

They didn't move and Starrk could tell just by their expressions that he would not be able to chase them off easily. Maybe if he revealed his identity, or knocked them out with his reiatsu…but he was trying _not_ to advertise his presence. He could threaten them with disciplinary action, but he didn't have any way to carry it out.

Damn.

"Alright, fine. But as soon as I find a shinigami willing to take you, you go with them."

At their enthusiastic agreement, Starrk turned back around and set off, this time aiming for an area that had the highest concentration of shinigami reiatsu signatures, which would be bad if he were on his own but the students would hopefully be able to find someone else to latch onto there. Unfortunately, none of the kids knew shunpo or how to stand in the air, so they had to walk the whole way.

Eventually, the former primera and his tag-a-longs emerged into an open area filled with activity. In front of them, shinigami of all ranks rushed back and forth, shouting orders and questions at each other, constantly entering and leaving the courtyard. It took a moment before Starrk pulled his attention away and looked up at the massive building that opened out onto the furor.

Its two tiers stood out above the maze walls (or perhaps there was another building behind the first) and teal roofing shingles set it apart from the surrounding reddish/orange coloration. In front of the main building, a peaked awning surrounded the doorway in the traditional Japanese Edo-style that most Soul Society architecture emulated. Front and center on the wooden surface beneath the peak and above the doorway was a giant sign, at least a meter across, of the kanji 'Four' enclosed in a diamond.

"The fourth division." Greg murmured, sounding awed. "I didn't think it would be so…big."

The others agreed quietly, moving closer together in intimidation and reverence. They had obviously never been in Seireitei proper before; it was possible they had never seen outside of the academy walls (excluding Rukongai).

More importantly, he made it past ten divisions without anyone realizing he _wasn't a shinigami_?

"Uh…what do we do now?" Hiku, this time.

Starrk sighed, mildly annoyed by their obvious inexperience.

"Find someone to take you back."

"But Sir…!"

Unfortunately, as the ex-primera turned to leave (dedicated to ignoring any and all protests), he ran head-long into a group of incoming shinigami.

"You there! What is your purpose?" An older soul reaper with a daffodil on his badge and a harried, hunted expression on his face blocked the path and stared up at the arrancar.

Starrk raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the smaller man but, cognizant of his false rank (or lack thereof) and the perilous position he'd be in if they guessed his identity, he answered succinctly.

"The kids want to help. " They nodded excitedly. "I brought them here so someone can take them back to the Academy." The nods turned to embarrassed scowls and foot shuffling.

"Are you insane? We don't have time for that! If you're with students, that means you're a teacher, right?"

"Actually-."

"Of course you are; that's the only reason you wouldn't have a division badge. But if you got this far, you must be more than that. Some sort of specialist? A member of the kido corp?"

"…Not exactly…"

"You must be powerful! Why are you fooling around with students? Are they prodigies or something?"

"…"

"It doesn't matter; we can use all the help we can get, especially with the captains and lieutenants occupied. Go talk to a seated officer of the Fourth; they'll give you something to do."

"Wait; I'm not-."

Too late; the stranger zipped off, ignoring Starrk's incredulous stare and the blatant confusion on the students' faces.

For a long moment, he just stood there, mentally debating what to do. However, his options boiled down to only one: move on. Continuing to interact with the shinigami could not end well, no matter if they thought they wanted his help or if they didn't recognize him. His responsibility towards the kids was over; they had plenty of experienced adults to turn to now and he wasn't actually bound by shinigami laws so-

"Sir?"

A quiet voice broke his train of thought and he stared with blank confusion at a lesser ranked shinigami holding out a clipboard to him. This one had a symbol of a snowdrop flower on his badge, beneath the kanji for thirteen.

"What?"

"W-well," He scratched at his neck nervously. "The eighth seat of the Sixth Division said that the fourth seat of the Tenth said you were a kido expert. I thought you were checking the structural stability of our repairs?"

"I'm not."

"Oh…"

Well, that was that. Now he could-.

"Could you…check for me anyway, please? There's no one else, and we're all…"

The former primera gave a deep sigh and accepted the blueprint, casting a casual glance over it, planning to give the shinigami a terse 'go ahead' and move on. However, a single look was enough to tell him the structure was seriously flawed. A deeper inspection made him frown deeply. He was no architect, but he had an affinity for spotting weaknesses and this diagram had plenty.

"This won't work."

"W-what? Why?"

"These supports are too close together in the center and too far from the edges; if enough force strikes the roof, especially off center, the weight won't be properly distributed and the entire ceiling will collapse. Also, the walls don't have enough reinforcement; with this blueprint, the entire building will fall down if any part is damaged."

The poor shinigami looked shell-shocked and blinked for a long moment. "Th-that's' not kido…"

"None of it will stand up to more than ten minutes of exposure to anything higher than a fracc-a _lieutenant _level of released reiatsu."

"Oh."

Internally grumbling over the delay, he returned the clipboard and turned to leave (AGAIN).

"B-but…the seventh division is already repairing buildings based on this…?"

"Then the buildings will fall down." He didn't bother to turn back as he snapped off the rejoinder a little more sharply than he'd intended. The soul reaper darted away immediately.

"How can we help?" Hiku. AGAIN.

"Go find a shinigami to ask." He managed to take two steps towards the edge of the courtyard, making sure to stay at the speed of an unseated shinigami, when the guy with the clipboard showed up again followed by a taller, older man who looked far more officious but just as harried.

"Sir! This is who I talked to about the blueprints." The weaker man directed towards his companion. His next comment was addressed to Starrk. "Sir, this is the fourth seat of the Seventh. He wants to talk to you about your comments."

The new arrival stood tall and looked him in the eye, apparently expecting something. When Starrk remained impassive with no sign of deference or intimidation, the shinigami's eyes narrowed.

"I have been told you have a problem with the current schematics."

Starrk actually groaned softly in exasperation. "I don't have a problem with anything. Your friend asked for my opinion, and I gave it. That's it."

"You are not very respectful, squad member." Starrk ignored the faint rise in reiatsu that came with the statement, assuming it was due to the other man's temper.

"If you don't want to listen, then don't. It's not my problem."

"I am the fourth seat of the Seventh Division. You can expect consequences for your lack of respect. What is your division, shinigami?"

Just about fed up with the whole debacle, Starrk responded with a flat stare and raised eyebrow.

There was another faint pulse of reiatsu, lower than even the base level of a Gillian but sufficiently annoying for Starrk to rebuff it with a touch of his own power. Not much, barely a pin-prick, but the shinigami reeled backwards, staring at him with wide eyes.

"…How…?" Breathless, terrified…_dammit. _Starrk had pushed it too far. Now he'd have to abandon his search for information, rip open a Garganta, and hope for the best. Maybe they would be too busy to-

"Sir, he's a member of the kido corp. I think he's also an instructor at the university." All but forgotten, the clip-board bearing seventh seat interjected.

"I see. Of course, that makes sense." The fourth seat hmphed, trying to regain his poise. Starrk would have rolled his eyes, if it was worth the effort. The shinigami turned towards him, pasting on an obviously fake smile. "Apologies, Instructor. I'm sure you understand we need to test the power levels of our members. Just in case of any imposters, of course."

Oh, the _irony_.

And those faint pulses were supposed to test his reiatsu levels? Was that paltry display really a show of power?

…How had the arrancar army lost to these people, again?

"Hn."

"Now." Power plays finally put aside, the shinigami pulled out the diagram Starrk had remarked on earlier. "What problems did you see with the schematics? I've been told you think the buildings will fall down if they aren't modified. With all due respect, Instructor, we have seen no-"

Unwilling to wait, Starrk interrupted with a short version of his earlier explanation." T_hese_ beams are too far apart, _those_ are too close together, and the walls need more support. Now if you could excuse me…"

The shinigami didn't move. "These schematics have been in use for the past thirty years and we have never needed to make such adjustments before. I personally have observed them stand up to power levels even greater than my own without suffering damage."

Starrk blinked. "What level of reiatsu?"

When the arrancar did not immediately bow to his (obviously superior) rebuttal, the fourth seat scowled but grudgingly answered. "A third seat tested them ten years ago. There was minimal damage."

On reflection, that actually made sense. All of Starrk's experience was with lieutenant and captain-class creatures (even standard Gillian, far below the level of the weakest arrancar, could easily kill lower-ranked shinigami). The only architecture he'd seen built to stand up to reiatsu in the past was Los Noches and it had been created with espada-level power in mind.

Maybe the shinigami weren't quite as inept as they appeared.

"What about captains?"

"Captains don't have time for things like that!" All of the surrounding shinigami looked downright appalled at the very thought.

With a disinterested shrug, Starrk gestured at the clipboard. "If you're building for third seat and lower, you're probably right. But it won't work for captain-class reiatsu."

The fourth seat scoffed. "You believe it will need to stand up to captains fighting? What possible reason would-"

Starrk raised an eyebrow and shot a significant glance at the battles in the distance, obviously between captains and captain-class opponents, and the shinigami's bluster ground to a halt.

"Well," Attempting to save face, the other man scrambled for another reason the uppity stranger could be wrong. "What would _you _know about captain-class reiatsu?"

"Kido expert, remember?" He might not know much about shinigami ranks and abilities (especially non-captain-class shinigami), but he knew what kido meant. Maybe all of these false titles they were ascribing to him could be useful…

By the look on his face, the shinigami _had_ forgotten and could not think up a new excuse. After a long moment of silence as he tried to think of a reason to keep the old schematics and came up empty, he finally replied through gritted teeth. "…I see."

"Mhm." Starrk yawned and turned away, ignoring how the other man reddened at the blatant disrespect, and walked directly into another group of six clip-board wielding shinigami between him and the exit.

Dismayed, he tried to push forward anyway but one of them, a short woman with a marigold on her badge, managed to get her clipboard into his hands. "Sir, would you mind telling me the changes?"

"Why don't you just ask the guy from the seventh division?"

She shook her head and followed when Starrk tried to walk away. "He still needs to report to the higher seats of the Seventh and it could be a while before the third seat of my division manages to meet with-."

"I can help!" Hiku and his friends, forgotten amongst the seated shinigami, were apparently still at Starrk's side and Shuichi, the shrill-voiced girl, piped up nervously at the opportunity. She immediately faltered beneath the eyes of her superiors, sliding closer to her friends for support, and mumbled the rest of her offer. "I mean…uh…I saw the changes and I could write them out for you. If you'd like."

"Go ahead." Relieved to ditch the kids and the new shinigami, and to avoid the apparent politics involved in implementing his suggestions, he tried to slip away.

…Only to encounter the rest of the clipboard-wielding herd calling for his attention.

With a deep sigh, Starrk closed his eyes, rubbed at his brow, and scowled.

* * *

It quickly became evident that the shinigami weren't as incompetent as he'd initially assumed. Most of them asked intelligent questions, knew how to complete assigned tasks quickly and well, were not afraid to put themselves in harm's way to get the job done, and cared for and protected each other. Unfortunately, a defunct chain of command was keeping them from applying most of their training and abilities.

Oh sure, they had the clear ranking system of captain down to twentieth seat within each division… _that _was working fine. The problem was communication between divisions. Apparently, most shinigami rarely ventured beyond the comfort of their immediate comrades; the lieutenants were responsible for inter-division cooperation and coordination of orders. With all of them occupied fighting, the third and fourth seats of each division were doing their best to compensate, but they didn't know how to operate without orders, especially with a powerful enemy running loose in Seireitei (something that hadn't happened for at least a century, barring the events surrounding Aizen's defection).

As a result, squads from all divisions were running willy-nilly, more often than not getting into each other's way and trying to complete tasks that were already being addressed by their peers. In the tense battle-ready atmosphere, the clashes often gave way to shouting matches that escalated up the chain of command and once they reached the top, there was no resolution because technically the 'leaders' were the same rank and no one had the authority to re-allocate troops, even if there were five squads trying to do the same menial tasks (such as cleaning rubble) while major problems went unaddressed (such as the giant holes in the outer wall). The only exceptions were divisions that did not even attempt to coordinate with the others: the second and twelfth were naturally focused on their own specialties, the eleventh was far more interested in fighting than rebuilding, and the fourth was the only division who was not operating without a captain (Unohana had stayed behind to care for the wounded captains and lieutenants).

By directing the fourth seat, Starrk inadvertently proven himself of equal or greater authority than the current officers in charge. More importantly, he seemed willing to dispense orders to anyone, regardless of division or rank.

Whether he liked it or not, he'd just become the go-to man for every (currently non-fighting) shinigami looking for instructions.

It didn't take Starrk long to fathom the plight he'd inadvertently backed himself into, but getting out of it was another issue altogether. No matter which way he turned or how many weak shinigami he sent away, there was always another one (or ten) waiting to beg for instruction. And since ninety percent of them were either complaining or asking about the actions of OTHER divisions, he seemed to be stuck in a continuous train of directing the shinigami without physically going anywhere. When Hiku's little pack was done drawing up building schematics, he ordered them to pass orders between divisions to redirect at least _some_ of the attention, but even that wasn't enough to give him an opportunity to slip away.

* * *

It was thirty minutes, three blueprint squabbles, fifteen jurisdictional disputes, eleven misplaced support squads, **fifty-nine** requests for paperwork, and over a hundred low-ranked shinigami later that Starrk finally got a chance to escape.

When a group of tenth division shinigami pressed past on their way to the fourth division, creating a temporary visual barrier between him and the courtyard, he took a chance and sonido'd stealthily into a side-alley. A few of the officers shivered and looked around when he passed, but he was so fast that most didn't even notice. They were not skilled or sensitive enough to detect his reiatsu.

He could sense the fights winding down in the distance and was not willing to stick around to learn the outcome. It didn't feel like they were completely over; the mysterious enemy who Starrk STILL didn't know the identity of showed no sign of leaving; but it seemed both sides were willing to back off and take a breather. And the first thing the captains would do upon being released from battle was almost definitely (a) check into the fourth division if they were wounded or (b) if they weren't wounded, check up on the status of their subordinates.

Starrk was under no illusion as to what would happen if one of them found an _arrancar_ ordering their troops around.

Free at last, he fished the walkie-talkie out of his clothes and spoke quietly into the receiver.

"Lilynette?"

"Finally! I was beginning to think they'd eaten ya or something."

He scowled. "Not exactly."

"Did ya find out what's going on?"

"No." He glowered sullenly at the wall when she responded in her typically loud and obnoxious manner.

"WHAT? Isn't that why you're THERE?!"

"I encountered some…obstacles."

"Yeah? What?"

A low, aggravated sigh was his only answer.

"Starrk? Don't ignore me!"

Finally, he muttered. "…The weak shinigami needed my help."

"Your…help."

"…"

"…Shinigami…needed an _arrancar's_ help?"

She sounded just as incredulous as he had originally. With another put-upon sigh, he gave a grudging answer.

"They think I'm a shinigami."

Her sudden, raucous laughter startled him into stepping backwards and pulling his finger off the 'Talk' button so the device went silent. The last thing he wanted was to draw someone's attention now that he was away from prying eyes and probably had a way out. If he could sonido a quarter mile or so away than no one would even notice a Garganta. Once outside, he and Lilynette could decide on a better way to find the information, one that didn't involve wading through hordes of needy, weak shinigami, Maybe they could break into whatever record-keeping-

A polite, feminine cough interrupted his train of thought and he instinctively turned around. There was a woman standing at the mouth of his alley. She was the picture of dignified beauty, with a mature, fine-featured face, calm blue eyes, and long black hair braided down her front.

…over a white captain's haori.

Of _course_.

* * *

Retsu Unohana did not like being kept from battle. She was aware of the necessity for her absence; as the most powerful and talented healer in the Gotei 13, she was the only person capable of treating many of the severe injuries coming into the Fourth Division. Also, the captains and lieutenants in her charge were far too powerful for many of her subordinates to handle; an accidental reflexive swat of captain-class reiatsu could easily kill someone without the power or ability to handle it. However, a good portion of her focus remained on the battles happening over Sogyoku Hill to sense whether any of her comrades were in critical condition and needed to be retrieved. Between dealing with the wounded and monitoring the fights, she had very little attention available for anything else. If something important came up, she trusted Isane to deal with it.

That was why, when a reiatsu signature that was alien but also somehow familiar (in species if not individually) made its way to the entrance of her division, she did not immediately investigate. No one was screaming, there was no reaction of hostility or fear from the weaker shinigami, no sense of threat from the newcomer…in fact, the presence was followed by a sense of radiating calm and the dispersal of most of the stress that had been hanging overhead since the invasion began.

She appreciated the serenity and nearly dismissed the stranger as simply a shinigami she had never met before, donating his services to help keep order. But when the battles ended and all of the injured high-risk shinigami no longer needed her services, she stopped for a moment to consider how best to command her subordinates. It was then that she felt a very familiar surge of power, something that was similar to and yet assuredly _not _a vizard. It was a reiatsu type she'd only felt during the Winter War, from Aizen's twisted creations.

With a mild frown, she made her way to the courtyard, ready to kill the intruding hollow, only to find nothing amiss. Normally, battle was met with chaos among the enlisted shinigami (they tried to be useful, but simply did not have the raw power to become involved), but this lot actually seemed organized and productive. It took moments to pinpoint the sonido (Longer than normal. The creature must have some talent for subterfuge.) and she followed it easily, relying on her status and intimidation to keep the younger shinigami from her path.

What she found at the end of the trail was entirely unexpected.

* * *

The two powerful beings stared at each other in uncomfortable silence for a long moment until Starrk yawned and glanced away, scratching at his head with apparent unconcern.

Unohana blinked and cocked her head slightly.

"Arrancar-san." He didn't look like an arrancar, but she trusted her senses. "Why have you come to visit?"

"Eh." He shrugged, eying her (frankly disturbing) smile cautiously, ready to fight or retreat. "Just trying to figure out what's going on."

"Oh?" Her smile widened and he took an uncertain step backwards. "You wish to join our enemies?"

"Ah, no. Just curious, that's all. I was actually just about to leave…"

"I do not think that would be wise, Arrancar-san." Turning to sonido (or open a Garganta. At this point he wasn't picky), he immediately froze at the tone of her voice.

"…Uh…"

"In fact, I believe it would be best if you remained here for the time being." Her voice didn't change inflection and there was nothing outwardly threatening about her manner, but he instinctively knew it would be suicide to reject her words.

"…Why?"

Instead of answering, she turning and glided out of the ally, then smiled serenely back over her shoulder. "Come with me please."

"…"

He automatically followed, steps jerky and not quite willing, but somehow unable to disobey.

Ten minutes later, seated slouched on the steps of the fourth division with squad members once again running to him for help and the female captain (Unohana of the fourth, it turned out) watching over all of them with a benign smile, he still couldn't bring himself to cut and run.

Something about her stance told him he wouldn't make it very far.

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**Author's Notes:**

And _this _is the installment that started it all. Round about chapter twenty of Howling at the Moon, I wrote 'Starrk wanders into Seireitei' with the intent to keep it below 1.5K and post it to that fic as a one-shot. However, as I wrote, the idea took root in my mind and just kept growing, until…*Ta da!*…How Coyote Starrk… was created. I'm not happy about so many OCs, but in this case they were necessary; any named characters would have recognized Starrk.

I know, I know…the next logical question is: if I wrote this first, why did it take so long to get it up? The major answer is that I originally wrote it in an entirely different tense (first & third; present & future). I had to go back through and slightly alter 60-70 percent of the words and THAT took quite a while. Also, I added another 2-3K of material at the end.

(Did you ever notice how everything breaks _really _easily in Seireitei? I mean, supposedly they have building material that can stand up to even Kenpachi-level reiatsu and yet all of the walls (including the outer gates) are built of something that practically falls apart when someone bumps into it hard enough_.)_

The lack of recent updates (to all my stories) is due to RL events and my distaste in the current manga arc. I mentioned previously that I really didn't like the new direction, but the chapter that occurred after Isshin's flashback was the final straw for me. I've officially stopped following the manga and my interest in Bleach has decreased quite a lot so the scarcity of updates could continue.

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Let me know what you think! Please REVIEW!

And a big 'Thank You' to those of you who reviewed last chapter! **Alowl, Lman3, ThatOneFan, Jade Dragon, TheSneakyHobo, Kage Kurai, cerometralleta, Guest, **and** ennui deMorte**; You guys are awesome!


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